Flacourtia indica (Burm. f.) Merr.

ഔഷധ കാര

Family : FLACOURTIACEAE

Synonym :

Flacourtia sepiaria Roxb.

Common Names : Aghori, Cherumullikkachedi, Karkkadappazham, Karimulli, Kattukara, Oushadakkara, Ramontchi, Mullikkachedi, Vayankkaitha, Batoko palm, Governor's plum, Madagascar plum

Flowering Period : November-March

Distribution : Paleotropics

Habitat : Deciduous forests, also in the plains

Uses : Fruit - raw or cooked. Resembling a small plum in shape, the deep red to purple fruit has a soft, juicy pulp that can range in flavour from acidic to sweet. An important herb in Ayurveda, where infusions of the bark, leaves and root are used medicinally to treat conditions such as fever, diarrhoea and inflammations. The leaf is carminative, astringent and used as a tonic, an expectorant and for asthma, pain relief, gynaecological complaints and as an anthelmintic, and treatment for hydrocele, pneumonia and intestinal worms. Plants are usually spiny and, when closely planted, form a close impenetrable barrier that serves as a tall hedge, windbreak or boundary screen.

Key Characters :

Dioecious shrubs or small trees, often armed with simple and branched thorns. Leaves variable in shape and size, 1.5-4 x 1-3 cm, elliptic-ovate, obovate, oblong or suborbicular, base cuneate, margins coarsely crenate, apex obtuse or emarginate, subcoriaceous; petiole to 8 mm long. Flowers c. 4 mm across, yellowish green, solitary or in few-flowered axillary racemose clusters. Sepals 4-5, slightly connate at base, ovate. Male flowers: stamens numerous; anthers versatile; disc lobed. Female flowers: ovary c. 1 mm long, globular, 3-locular; ovules 2-per locule; stigma bilobed, recurved. Berries 0.5-1 cm across, subglobose, dark purple when ripe. Seeds obovoid, pale yellow.